NEW YORK -- Years later, they still remember.

Memories will be made Friday night at Madison Square Garden, for better or for worse.

That’s the thing about Game 7s with a berth in the Stanley Cup finals on the line. In the moment, players try to treat it as just another game. But once it’s played, they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives.

For the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers, their most recent Stanley Cup championships included the drama of a seventh game in the conference finals.

It was May 27, 1994, Devils vs. Rangers in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden with the Vancouver Canucks waiting in the Cup finals.

"A big moment for us was Game 6, being able to survive, it was the first time that we saw the Devils really believing they could win and beat us in a series," Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Leetch told ESPN.com Thursday. "So to get through the beginning of that game and what Mark [Messier] was able to do, and for us to win that game, we gained a huge amount of confidence. We went into Game 7 much more confident than we did into Game 6. And being at home, the crowd was super loud during that year because of 1940 and us getting through the Islanders and playing the Devils. The place was rocking from start to finish."

The Rangers needed to forget how the third period ended that night in 1994. Valeri Zelepukin tied the game 1-1 with 7.7 seconds to go.

"I remember being in front of the net and Claude Lemieux was in front of me and I just didn’t want Claude Lemieux to get the tying goal," Leetch said. "That’s the one player who I couldn’t let score. The puck came bouncing by and I had one swing at it. If I get it out and hit it hard, we win. And it bounced over my stick, Zelepukin was there and I couldn’t believe what was happening in front of me."

Talk about gut-wrenching.

"You’re lining up for the faceoff with 7 seconds and their bench is still jumping up and down and you see the belief in their eyes and you know the excitement they got going into their room," Leetch said. "So we were down. But it didn’t take long to refocus and get over it. I know Kevin Lowe said something along the lines of 'We’ll play as long as it takes, we’re going to figure out a way to get this done.' A few other guys said similar things. We were back to focusing on what we needed to do."

It took double overtime before we got to "Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!" -- Stephane Matteau beating Martin Brodeur on the wraparound, sending the Rangers to the finals.

"I remember being on the ice and seeing that play develop," Leetch said. "I saw [Esa] Tikanen jump up in the air and I didn’t know if he really saw the puck in the net or if he was just trying to sell it that it was in. Then I saw Matteau and the crowd behind the net, I knew it was actually in. We all rushed over to jump into the pile."

Fast forward to May 22, 2004, Flyers vs. Lightning in Game 7 in Tampa, Florida, with the young franchise trying to book its first-ever trip to the Cup finals.

"Our Game 7 started right after Game 6 to be honest," former Lighting captain Dave Andreychuk told ESPN.com Thursday. "I’m sure these guys are feeling the same way now. We lost a heartbreaker in Game 6 in Philly, they scored with a minute to go and then won it in overtime. I remember standing up in the room after the game and saying, 'Game 7 starts right now. Let’s forget what just happened.'"

With Game 7 approaching in the Eastern Conference finals, Andreychuk still remembers exactly how he felt.

"For me personally, I had never been to the finals. Game 7, one win and we’re in the finals, it meant a lot to me," Andreychuk said.

"I remember talking about Game 7s. We had a meeting and talked about it that day. We said, 'This is what you dream about.' We talked about seizing the opportunity. ... I remember saying it had been 21 years and I hadn’t been there yet. So don’t think because you’re 21 years old you’re going to do this every year. It’s not as easy as you think. That was the resounding message. It’s tough to do. This might be your only chance, take advantage of it."

Tampa Bay got by Philadelphia 2-1 that night en route to its first and only Cup championship with a win over Calgary.

Now the opportunity awaits the Lightning and Rangers on Friday night. It’s a game that may define someone’s career. Who will be Matteau this time around?

"You kind of have to treat it like just another game," star Lightning center Tyler Johnson said Thursday after practice in Tampa before his team boarded a flight for New York. "I feel like when you think too much about a situation or over-hype yourself about it, you get too tense, you grip the stick a little bit too tight. That’s usually when bad things happen. You just have to relax and play your game."

Bad things happened early in Game 7 in 2010 when Philadelphia went into Boston looking to be the first team since 1975 to erase a 3-0 series deficit.

It was 3-0 Bruins before the Flyers could blink.

"I remember Lavvy [coach Peter Laviolette] called a timeout," Lightning blueliner Braydon Coburn, then with the Flyers, recalled Thursday. "We were just 12 minutes into that game and we’re down 3-0. He reminded us there was lots of game left and to just keep doing what had just won us three games. We regrouped and stayed at it and it paid off in the end."

Matt Carle, sitting next to Coburn in the Tampa Bay dressing room Thursday, also played in that game with the Flyers. The details came trickling back to him.

"I think James Van Riemsdyk got a fluky goal where he threw a soft shot to the net and it deflected off a D-man’s stick and snuck through [Tuukka] Rask’s pads," Carle said. "It might have been a minute or two left in the period [2:48 to go in the opening period]. So we had momentum going into the locker room, something to build off.

"We just stuck with it the rest of the game. It was almost surreal at the time after we won the game [4-3]. It didn’t really sink in until later. Here we are talking about it five years later, you realize how special a game and a series that was."

Game 7, baby. You don’t forget them.

"It’s no coincidence you remember your previous Game 7s," Carle said. "You play so many games in this league and to have a few stick out like that, it’s like when you’re a kid playing in a championship game, you don’t forget those too often."